1. A Debate: Believing in God is Psychologically Healthy By: Jordan Pike Kristen Ryba Marie Tortora Sophia Cipriano Ryan Mills

2. ~Healthy~  If you compare people who aren’t religious with people who gather regularly for more secular reasons, the religious group is healthier  Popular explanation for the link between religion and health is “sin avoidance”

3. …Healthy (continued)  Religious believers have much lower incidents of mental illness than non- believers, and better scores on self- actualization tests.  Recent empirical studies prove religious believers have less depression, mental illness, lower divorce rate, etc.

4. …Healthy (continued)  In the case of the few longevity or mortality outcome studies, the benefit was in favor of those who attended church…at least 70% of the time, increased religious commitment was associated with improved coping and protection from problems.  Belief in God also helps people deal with the issue of death more easily.

5. Believing In God…  Allows people to improve personal self image, providing a greater mental satisfaction. A belief in God can provide individuals with more self empowerment and self awareness.  Allows people to belong to a group that promotes healthy values, this group works together to provide each individual with a support community centered in their common beliefs. This, in return, makes the mind psychologically healthier.

6. ~UNhealthy~  It was not only Sigmund Freud that called religion pathological. There are more psychologists than ever since Freud, that are not afraid to call Christianity a mental disorder.  The only reason the DSM does not categorize Christianity as a mental disorder is because of the numbers who believe.

7. …UNhealthy (continued)  In other words, if ONLY one person believed in the tenets of Christianity, they would be diagnosed as schizophrenic*.  Schizophrenia* bears an uncanny resemblance to ‘Christian Fundamentalism’  *Schizophrenia- any group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances.

8. …UNhealthy (continued)  Family & friends become insignificant compared to the need to uphold the beliefs. Unhealthy faith is used to avoid reality and responsibility  Harmful faith is an excuse to put off dealing with life’s pain, to “wait on God” for “direction” rather than getting on with life or to abuse one’s wife because she must submit him as if he were God. It provides a distraction through religious ritual and “religaholicism.”

9. …UNhealthy (continued)  Alternatively one could be spiritually lazy and put all responsibility onto God for everything, e.g. wanting God to instantly heal a marriage rather than working on yourself to change. It is easier to pray and do nothing more than it is to face one’s responsibility and seen help to go through the pain of growth. These people who want a “god drug” to wipe out all the pain and consequences of their actions.

10. Bibliography  Erricker, Clive.(1995).Buddhism.Illinois: NTC/Comtemporary Publishing.  Newton, Joseph.(2004, July). The Error. Retrieved October 15, 2004, from http://www.iidb.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-91116 http://www.iidb.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-91116  vBulletin v3.0.0,copyright 2000-2004,Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.  “Doctors Find Power of Faith hard to ignore” Usha Lee McFarling,Knight Ridder News Service(1998 December) http://www.tennessean.com/health/stories/98/trends1223.htm http://www.tennessean.com/health/stories/98/trends1223.htm

11. SUMMARY  A belief in God allows people to explain how their own existence came to be. This belief or faith in a god, provides answers to questions concerning life and thereby erasing many doubts that may build up and aggravate in the mind of an individual. Skepticism is linked to fate because unless people questioned the world they lived in, ideas and beliefs would not have been created to answer skeptic thoughts. The existence of the mind enforces the development of faith and a belief system due to the minds own method of preservation. The mind has created religion in an effort to preserve itself from doubt and the desire to be satiated by an unidentifiable outside source.

12. The End